3 Answers
3

There has been talk about an API before, and I believe Jeff has said "It's definitely something we want to do" on the podcast - but with no timescale. I don't think it's a current priority, although a few APIs have been made available on a somewhat ad-hoc basis.

The obvious downside from the SO side of things is that custom clients would probably not include adverts, draining revenue. However, I don't see that as a major problem: most visits aren't made by the kind of regular user who would have a custom client anyway - they're "drive-by" visits via search engines, and these wouldn't be affected. Custom clients for power users could enable users to generate content more efficiently, and it's ultimately content that drives the search hits.

Thank you. I feared the Ad-thing is the larges barrier for this kind of API. There can be non-free solutions to that too. I should really listen to the old podcasts from now.
–
akarnokdJul 20 '09 at 8:22

2

yes, but "generating content via API" is kind of dangerous, as well -- look at how Twitter has been overrun by bots of all kinds through their APIs
–
Jeff Atwood♦Aug 7 '09 at 8:49

It will be a very strange decision, as far as other users may want to implement different UI with different scoring/badging system... I can't see any "pro" argument why owners of SO will want to do this.

I suppose that WebService API can be developed, but only to Get() answers/comments from site. However, RSS feeds are good replacements of that.

Thank you. I see at least one Pro: No more feature-requests regarding visualization. RSS feed isn't that diverse yet. Site rules for voting/badging would be the same as the site would still do it. But you are right, there are more cons about it, that I first thought: there is no free lunch - yet.
–
akarnokdJul 20 '09 at 8:13